User-Generated Content Ideas to Keep Your Community Engaged

Building a community is not just about getting 100k members or grabbing paid sponsorships. Instead, it is like planting a garden that requires constant attention and nurturing. One of the most common challenges faced by community builders is maintaining continued active engagement as members tend to lose interest over time.

If you have created or been a part of any community, you might have seen a poll posted there once in full moon, to only be ignored by a majority of members. Truth be told, these issues arise as the members don’t feel invested enough in the community they are part of.

This blog will challenge the conventional approach to driving a community engagement and provide actionable ideas to drive user-generated content (UGC). Gone are the days when engagement was driven solely by a user admin. Members are the king of engagement, and that’s why driving UGC becomes more crucial than ever. Let’s explore the steps to transform your community with some creative and real-life User-Generated content ideas.

Why Communities Struggle to Stay Engaged

As mentioned earlier, the overall community growth becomes meaningless by measuring the number of members alone. Active participation should be the core focus of all communities, otherwise they quickly turn into a ghost town. Here’s why this occurs:

1. Lack of Ownership: Members often feel that they are a passive part of the community, instead of acting like co-creators or equal contributors.
2. One-Sided Communication: Most of the communities still rely on admin posting content (polls, updates, or mostly just announcements) failing to drive participation.

Monotony: With the lack of diverse contributors, the tone and quality of content usually becomes monotonous and boring for the members.

The Power of User-Generated Content in Communities

Think of user-generated content as a strong narration flipping medium that shifts the power to members for their contribution. It further builds a sense of ownership and makes the community feel like a shared space rather than a top-down entity. You might have already witnessed the power of UGC content on Instagram that naturally showcases customer experiences.

Take the example of a famous camera brand ‘Go Pro’ that narrates user stories through their users capturing their travel memories and day-to-day life experiences with the camera.

You can do the same for your communities as members begin to invest their efforts and emotion into the community. And this isn’t just a plain theory, many successful communities build upon User-Generated Content as it leads to,

• Increased Engagement: Posts boosted by UGC report nearly 30% higher engagement rate compared to standard approaches.
• Enhanced Trust: Along with increasing engagement, 84% people also have a greater trust in a brand or community that uses UGC on a frequent basis.

Influenced Purchasing Decisions: Eventually, people begin to get easily influenced by noticing the contributions of other members, leading to revenue generating opportunities for communities.

Actionable Steps to Foster User-Generated Content

1. Begin with Simple Prompts

Trust us: encouraging participation by community members isn’t that difficult. You can initially start by posting open-ended questions or fun challenges that spark curiosity. Skip the conventional generic polls, and try prompts that are way more relatable and intriguing.

Example: In a tech-centric community, a community admin can post open-ended questions such as, "What’s the one gadget you can’t live without, and why?" You can share your experience first, seed in 2-3 more and later compile responses into a shared document or social media post credited to the community members.

2. Introduce Member Spotlights

It is essential to acknowledge and celebrate individual members by bringing their contributions and achievements in the limelight. Even a simple Birthday wish or announcing ‘Member of the Month’ can take your community’s engagement to the next level.

For instance: Feature ‘Member of the Month’ by sharing the most insightful discussions or contributions. You can tag the person, and share their contributions all across your channels. After all, who doesn’t like validation?

3. Create Collaborative Projects

You can bring your community members together by creating opportunities or initiatives where they can work together. Some of the examples include,

• A community playlist for music lovers.
• A shared recipe book with the contribution of all members in a Food community.
• Open-source coding projects for developers and techies.

Even research proves that collaboration leads to enhanced teamwork and shared purpose, strengthening member connections in the process.

4. Host UGC Challenges and Competitions

Who doesn’t like some thrill in shared spaces, especially when it comes to communities with common interests? Community admins should conduct friendly challenges or contests to boost community engagement. They can offer simple incentives such as online recognition, exclusive community perks or even goodies.

Example: A fitness community could potentially start a ‘14 days Workout Challenge’ where members can post daily photos post workout and share their journey together. In the end, members with a consistent streak can be featured on community leaderboard or rewarded with health related goodies.

5. Leverage Engagement Tools Like Pinch

Encouraging UGC doesn’t necessarily have to be overwhelming for the community builders. Community management platforms such as Pinch can simplify the process with robust tools for organizing engaging discussions, tracking participation, and even host events. This eliminates the need to recruit additional moderators while ensuring a vibrant community with UGC led growth hack.

6. Gamify Content Creation

Games are not just for kids. In fact, gamification is one of the most proven ways to increase community engagement. You can create a point system where members can earn rewards for,

• Posting new threads.
• Replying to others’ posts.
• Contributing to community-led projects.

It would also be great if members can redeem these points for an exclusive badge, content or event access. This overall experience would positively reinforce the community members to participate more. You can notice how social media platforms like Reddit and Facebook Groups have gamified their experience to some extent.

This strategy naturally aligns with both user-generated content ideas and community engagement strategies, creating a win-win scenario.

For instance: An arts and crafts centric community could reward its members for submitting their creations with points redeemable for art workshops or advanced tutorials.

7. Incorporate Stories and Testimonials

Unpopular advice but you sometimes need to divert from the usual purpose and routine of your community. You can encourage members to share their personal experiences or stories and turn communities into a relatable space. This also ensures a strengthened community bond.

Example: A reading club could ask members to share their personal stories around how a particular book changed their perspective on life. While they don’t go into the nuances of a book, the stories can still feel fresh and relatable for other members. You can later compile these stories and feature them in exclusive space.

8. Utilize Multi-Media Contributions

Today, with the increase of post formats, communities are not just limited to text posts or questions. You can experiment with different types of content that can include,

• Short videos or reels.
• Infographics or memes.
• Audio recordings or podcasts.

Remember that there’s no hard and fast rule of what works or doesn’t work in a community. Always experiment, watch and analyse results for a better strategy around community growth.

Real-Life Example: Glossier's Community-Driven Success

An international beauty brand Glossier has smartly utilized UGC to build a loyal community and eventually turn them into consumers. By encouraging people to share their post-makeup selfies and makeup routines, Glossier aims to create a sense of belonging amongst its community members. This strategy has increased the participation rates and created a strong brand community.

Their key takeaway: UGC made members feel like co-creators, not just consumers.

The Future of Communities Lies in Member Equity

It is time that you start empowering your communities to generate content and turn passive members into invested co-creators. Start today by implementing some of these actionable ideas, and watch how your community transforms into a buzzing hub of collaboration and creativity.